Skip to content
Made With Lau
魚丸

Homemade Fish Balls

👍 6.2K likes
✍️ Published Jun 2021, Updated Oct 2026
Prep
30 min
Cook
30 min
Total
60 min
Serves
4

Learn how to make this incredibly versatile fish ball recipe right at home!

Homemade Fish Balls (魚丸)

Cooking Summary

Ingredients: (detailed list)

  • Main Ingredients: tilapia fish fillets, shrimp
  • Fish Ball Flavors (default for ~10 oz of fish/shrimp): cilantro, green onion, ginger, dried mandarin orange peel, white pepper, chicken bouillon, salt, sugar, cornstarch, egg, water, sesame oil, olive oil

Steps:

  1. Cut, mince, flatten fish
  2. Cut, mince, flatten shrimp
  3. Mix fish & shrimp
  4. Chop greens, ginger, orange peel
  5. Create flavors
  6. Mix everything together, add oils
  7. Slam the fish paste
  8. Refrigerate & cook

Top 3 Mistakes:

Jump To Section

Overview

This fish ball recipe was originally part of our longer series on doing Hot Pot at Home, and I felt like it deserved its own blog post, so here we are.

If you're new to fish balls, this is an extremely popular type of recipe with a ton of different names and variations throughout Asia and parts of Europe.

The foundation of this recipe is essentially creating a great fish paste. From there, usually, you'll find these rolled up into balls, which you can deep fry and lather in sauce, or boil them in soups or hot pots. Instead of rolling them into balls, you can also flatten them into patties and pan-fry them, which my dad does quite often.

Most Asian grocery stores sell pre-made fishballs, but this is a great way to customize your own healthy version at home.

Why this recipe

The story
Homemade Fish Balls (魚丸) — Daddy Lau
Daddy Lau

Most homemade fish balls recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.

I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 295.1K views, 6.2K likes on YouTube.

Ingredients

Serves4
Main Ingredients
(size 31-35)
Fish Ball Flavors (default for ~10 oz of fish/shrimp)
(3-4 thin slices, minced)
(rehydrated, use about 1 square inch)

Buying fish from sustainable sources

It’s important to at least be aware of how we can support sustainable methods and sources of fish.

While it might not always be feasible to shop in this way, as consumers, an easy way to do our part is by making sure we vote with our wallets.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California runs a free website called “Seafood Watch” which has a ton of recommendations on how to choose and purchase seafood in ways that have the least environmental impact.

Finding Asian Ingredients

Some of these ingredients are hard to find in a typical grocery store.

If you don't live near an Asian market, most or all of what my dad uses in this recipe can be found on Amazon:

I've also included some other Chinese kitchen essentials, used in many of my dad's other recipes.

These links are affiliate links, which means that if you use our links to purchase these ingredients, Amazon pays my family a small amount for the sale - at no extra cost to you. If you use these links, we really appreciate the support!

How to make Homemade Fish Balls

8 steps
1

scroll to play this step

We'll start by finely mincing our tilapia (2 oz). Beat it down with the blunt edge of our knife to flatten it. Repeat this 1-2 more times to tenderize the fish. We want this to be as tender and paste-like as possible.

The actual amount and type of fish are up to you! My dad just used tilapia because it was readily available at the time.

If you have a food processor, feel free to use it!

How each knife cut changes your food
LESSON 3.3
How each knife cut changes your food
Dive Deeper →
2

scroll to play this step

Just like our fish, we'll finely mince our shrimp (0.2 oz).

Beat it down with the blunt edge of our knife to flatten it. Repeat this 1-2 more times to tenderize the shrimp. We want this to be as tender and paste-like as possible.

As with the fish, the actual amount and type of shrimp are up to you! You can also just make this with shrimp, or skip the shrimp entirely.

3

scroll to play this step

With the blunt side of our knife, spatula, paddle, etc, we'll mix the tilapia and shrimp together, and flatten it. Make sure to do this thoroughly.

4

scroll to play this step

We'll finely chop some cilantro (4 piece), green onion (4 piece).

We'll also be mincing about 1 square inch of a rehydrated dried orange peel, and 3-4 slices of ginger.

5

scroll to play this step

Mix salt (1 tsp), sugar (1 tsp), white pepper (½ tsp), chicken bouillon (1 tsp), egg, cornstarch (3 Tbsp), and water (5 Tbsp) in a bowl.

6

scroll to play this step

Add the fish paste and greens to the bowl, and mix thoroughly for 2-3 minutes.

Add sesame oil (1 tsp), olive oil (1 tsp), mix for another 30-60 seconds.

7

scroll to play this step

This is a traditional technique - we'll take clumps of fish paste and slam it down on the bowl.

This helps increase the pliability of the fish paste.

8

scroll to play this step

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

When it comes time to eat, we have a bunch of options:

  • Hot pot style: Scoop up a ball of fish paste with a spoon, and then dunk it in the hot pot. It will be ready to eat in a little under a minute - soft, chewy, tender goodness and all.
  • Deep fry: Heat up a high smoke point oil (like corn oil) and deep fry the fish balls for ~1 minute at 175C, 350F. Dip in your favorite sauce
  • Sauté: Flatten the fish balls into little patties, and pan-fry each side for 2-3 minutes.

Top 3 Mistakes

  • Leaving the fish too coarse:

    Mince and flatten the fish repeatedly until it becomes paste-like. A rough chop does not create the same cohesive mixture needed for the soft, chewy fish balls in this recipe.

  • Skipping the paste beating:

    Work the seasoned fish paste thoroughly, then use the bowl-slapping technique shown in the recipe. That extra handling develops pliability instead of leaving the mixture loosely combined.

  • Skipping the chilling stage:

    Cover the finished fish paste and refrigerate it for at least the resting time specified. Keep this step between mixing and cooking rather than shaping and cooking it immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the benefit of making homemade fish balls from scratch?

Of course, the main draw of making something from scratch is that you know exactly what's going into your dish. You can control the amount of seasonings and adjust different ingredients to your liking.

You also have better control over the freshness. The texture of homemade fish balls and homemade fish paste will be way better than a frozen package from the store. It's also healthy, since you know that there aren't any unfamiliar preservatives in it!

What's the best fish to use for fish paste?

We use tilapia, but you can use most white fish. Other popular fish to use for fish paste or fish balls include pollock and dace. You can also try making this with just shrimp!

Do I have to use dried orange peel?

As Daddy Lau always says, if you don't like it, reduce it or skip it! Here, it's helpful to have dried orange peel to complement the taste of the fish and reduce any possible fishiness. If you don't have it, or you don't like the taste of dried orange peel, you can skip it.

Why is there shrimp in the fish balls?

Not all fish balls or fish paste include shrimp. We like the taste, and it also contributes to the structure of the fish balls. You can also make this 100% shrimp with no fish!

Do I have to mince it into a paste by hand?

Nope! You can totally use a food processor for this. For blenders or grinders, you may want to consult the instruction manual for any tips and tricks on getting the result you want.

Can you use fish paste for other dishes?

Yes! There are lots of Cantonese dishes that use fish paste. We use it to make fish balls for hot pot, but you can also grill it, stir-fry it, and stuff other ingredients and pan-fry or fry them.